12. A Cup Of Coffee

Luna Lee offered Gerald to drink coffee for a while at the cafe in the hospital.

"I’ll treat. What do you think?" she asked and smiled.

She added, “Five… no. Just ten minutes."

Luna did sound pushy because, after a long time, she felt happy to be able to meet again with a friend who had helped her in various ways so Luna Lee didn't want to waste time chatting with Gerald for a while.

Gerald Olson looked thoughtful for a moment, checked his watch, and then nodded.

“Okay,” he said, “but let me call my colleague for a bit because we actually have an appointment around this lunchtime.”

"Oh, alright. Please," said Luna Lee.

Gerald pulled out his cell phone and stepped aside in a corner to talk to someone on the phone.

"Hello, Mr. Aaron… Yes, it's me, Olson. Gerald Olson. I want to talk about our appointment this afternoon. Would you mind if I arrived a little late?... Maybe about, well, five or ten minutes... I just happened to have, err, urgent business. But, of course, I will try to come on time. All right, sir. Alright… OK. Thank you for your understanding, Mr. Aaron. Good afternoon and see you later."

This guy finally returned to the place where Luna Lee was waiting and nodded as if to signal that he was ready to be treated to a cup of coffee at the hospital cafe. So, these two friends got back into the elevator to the second floor and walked together down the corridor to the cafe.

"Coffee?" asked Luna Lee.

"Of course. You paid for it, didn't you?" said Gerald, making Luna laugh.

Luna said to the waitress, "Okay. Two cups of black coffee."

"Would you like some corn syrup, Miss?" asked the waitress.

"Err..." Luna turned to Gerald to ask if he wanted to add corn syrup to his coffee and Gerald shook his head.

"One uses corn syrup," said Luna.

Then when Luna was about to take money out of her wallet to pay, the corner of her eye caught the cake window and she suddenly wanted a piece of that beautiful cake.

"Ah, and one raspberry cake with honey on top please," Luna Lee's finger pointed to the rows of red and golden yellow cakes.

Then, Luna paid along with two ready-made cups of coffee and a small plate of raspberry cake slices on a tray. Reflexively, Gerald brought the tray and the two of them sat on the cool terrace of the cafe.

"Would you like some cake, Gerald?"

Luna handed Gerald a small plate of cake. But, that man shook his head with a smile and chose to sip his coffee slowly. Then he put the coffee cup back on the table. Gerald's legs were crossed, stacked on top of each other. While the eyes of these two men stared at Luna who was eating the cake deliciously, as if without even blinking.

Gerald asked, “Are you sick, Luna Lee? Or are you visiting someone?”

"No," said Luna, wiping her lips.

"Then why are you in the hospital?"

This woman smiled broadly with one cheek bulging because there was a cake in it. Then, Luna's right hand patted her own stomach while giving Gerald a happy look. Of course, as a friend, Gerald immediately understood.

“You… gosh! Really? Are you pregnant? Is that Lucas' baby?"

"Yes, you're right. Oh, I was surprised at first too, Gerald. My reaction is the same as yours. But, oh my… I mean, can you imagine that I'm carrying Lucas' baby right now?” said Luna Lee with flowery feelings.

Gerald grabbed Luna's hand and squeezed it slightly. A sign that he is also happy.

"I'm glad to hear that, Luna. Alicia must be very happy too. I'll tell her later,” said Gerald Olson.

“Oh, about Alicia. How is Alicia now?? I haven't communicated with her since the last time. Is she okay?"

"Yes. She's perfectly fine. It's just, well, like you said just now that she's really hard to contact. I think she really enjoys her passion as a volunteer.”

“Do you know where Alicia is now?”

“Last time, Alicia called me and we talked on the phone. She said she was in Albania. I don't know after that. Roughly, the last time we communicated was, err, about five months ago.”

"It's been quite a while, huh."

"Yes."

Then, the two of them chatted for the next ten minutes and as promised, Luna Lee ended their meeting. They also exchanged cell phone numbers before parting ways.

Luna Lee took a taxi back to the office, while Gerald returned to the parking area to get into his car. In the car, Gerald Olson did not immediately start the engine. He leaned back in the chair and stared ahead. Recalling how he and Luna Lee met.

***

Three years ago…

Gerald Olson was about to smoke marijuana in the kitchen of a friend's house who was having a party when he was tapped on the shoulder from behind.

"Hey, Gerry."

Reflexively, his breathing became erratic, and instead scattered the crumbs of marijuana off the kitchen table. Annoyed, Gerald Olson turned to find his younger sister, Alicia Olson, embracing another girl who was smiling at him. The girl had beautiful cat eyes, charming pale white skin, shiny black hair that flowed like black pearls, and a small body typical of Asian girls in general.

The cat-eyed girl smiled at Gerald which, automatically, made Gerald forget his anger just now. He even froze for a moment.

“Gerry, this is my friend from college. Her name is Luna Lee," said Alicia, "And Luna, this my stupid brother. His name is Gerald. Well, Luna-Gerry. Gerry-Luna."

Luna Lee also reached out first to Gerald Olson.

"Nice to meet you," said Luna, somewhat yelling at the noise at the party.

“Oh… err… well, nice to meet you too, err…”

“Luna.”

“…well, nice to meet you, Luna.”

Alicia interrupted in between the introductions, "What are you doing, Gerry?"

"This," Gerald's expression, which had looked fascinating earlier, immediately returned to normal. He pointed out a roll of paper and marijuana crumbs on the table which was scattered untidily.

"Oh, that's it again. Bored," Alicia protested. "Hey, Luna. Let's go upstairs. Maybe we’ll find it more exciting.”

Luna Lee nodded at Alicia's invitation and the two girls walked away from the kitchen. Gerald didn't care and just pointed his middle finger at his little sister.

At that time, Gerald thought that he was only momentarily stunned by his little sister's friend and continued to smoke marijuana again. Because of all this time, Alicia often introduced her friends to Gerald. So many, that even Gerald forgot who and who. So, even though he had been fascinated by Luna's existence, he never thought that he would meet Luna again a few weeks later.

(To be continued…)